This follows this morning’s earlier post about the Rangers financial disclosures. Those disclosures revealed that Jamey Newberg has been paid some $27K in the past year by the Rangers, who he covers in his blog, The Newberg Report.

You should read Newberg’s entire statement in the second half of this post, but for those too lazy to click, the upshot is that he provides content for the Rangers website and Gameday program, and that he is paid for copies of his annual publication that the Rangers give to season ticket holders.

As disclosures go, I’d say it’s pretty full. Still, it’s something that probably should have been mentioned somewhere on his blog before now.

And this is a shock why, Craig? His byline appears on articles on the Rangers’ website; did you think that he was supplying that content gratis? There is a word for people who engage in those sorts of activities…they are called “employees.”

There are tons of team-specific bloggers who provide content to MLB.com and other media sites for free. The Dallas Morning news was surprised enough at his inclusion on the financial disclosure to devote several parapgraphs on the matter. I don’t think it can simply be assumed that, based on his byline appearing on the website, that he was being paid a substantial amount of money, or that the Rangers paid for his trip to cover spring training.
It’s also worth noting that the Rangers inclusion of his work in packages given out to season ticket holders — which also was not widely known — mean that he has, however innocently, participated in team marketing efforts, not that he was merely being paid to provide copy to random readers.
This is not to impugn Newberg’s work. I don’t have a beef with anything he’s written and I really don’t have any problem with him doing what he’s doing — we’re all out here hustling. It’s just that he’s a very influential voice in Rangers’ circles, and in light of that I think it appropriate for a disclaimer to have appeared at some point before now.

No, we’re not “all out there hustling.” For example, I’m sitting here under my gazebo, sipping a pina colada, watching the territorial displays of invasive species of anoles with which Macondo is so richly and variably endowed, and diddling upon my mental dialysis unit. Hustling is for rubes.

As disclosures go, I’d say it’s pretty full. Still, it’s something that probably should have been mentioned somewhere on his blog before now.
People who really care about full disclosure are upfront enough to admit stuff before somebody else finds out about it and publicizes it. He doesn’t deserve any credit for filling in details after somebody else found out the big picture- especially since his disclosure is still an attempt to minimize the significance of the relationship.